Laemmle Theatres chain owner is ‘Professor for A Day’ at Cal State L.A.

Cal State L.A. business and economics students will have Bob Laemmle, owner of the Laemmle Theatres chain in Southern California, as their “Professor for a Day” on Thursday, April 17.

Laemmle, a 1958 graduate of Cal State L.A., will discuss his life and career as a successful businessman at 1:30 p.m. in the University-Student Union, Los Angeles Room. There will be a question-and-answer session after the talk. The entire campus community is invited.

Laemmle played basketball at Cal State L.A. and earned first-team All-CCAA honors in 1957 and 1958. He was inducted into the University’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Laemmle family is one of the most renowned owners of independent theaters in America. They were also one of the first U.S. exhibitors to expose Americans to art house, independent films.

Laemmle Theatres celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2013. The company currently offers 34 screens in seven locations, with new theatres opening soon in Glendale and Santa Monica.

Besides featuring films, they also focus on maintaining the classic architectural features of properties and opening in areas that offer a dense, downtown-like experience that fits in well with the framework of the community that surrounds them.

For more than a decade, the Laemmle Charitable Foundation has promoted local environmental and educational initiatives, donating more than $100,000 in 2012.

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 230,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a NASA-funded center for space research and a forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu